Cowboy Bebop: The Second Stanza
by soupcan58
Summary: 20 year old Jason Thoreon dreams of a life away from Mars as a bounty hunter. Living in Alpha City, a runaway from the Red Dragon Syndicate after Vicious is killed by Spike Spiegle. This is the Story of a future bounty hunter. Session 4 is in the Works,
1. Session 0: The Players

Cowboy Bebop: The Second Stanza

Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop, no matter how much I want to see the prequel to the series. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I have. On that note, I know this chapter doesn't advance the story too much, so that's why it's session 0. And just ahead of time, if there is a 5 at the end of the chapter, ignore it. is adding it on for some reason or another.

Enjoy!

Agumon58

Session 0: The Players

A ship floated silently through the vast expanse of space. This ship wasn't too far from civilization though. It was just outside the atmosphere of Ganymede, one of the moons of Jupiter, in the Sol System. Why a trash crew hadn't picked it up was anyone's guess, but still, something was different about it.

It looked like a perfectly fine craft, other than the stuff that had gotten caught onto the ship itself from the floating debris. Maybe it had been around Earth at some point in its time out. It looked like a classic model of race craft, so people just dismissed it as they came out of the gates. This shouldn't have been disregarded so quickly though. For inside the cockpit of this spacecraft, a man laid in wait for his target. Little did he know, he wouldn't have to wait very long for the bounty he was after.

The man was a bounty hunter, on the prowl, looking for the mass terrorist that had escaped the ISSP for the third time. The bounty had been released to the public about a week before, and every bounty hunter in the system was looking for the terrorist. When there is a fifty million Woolong bounty on your head, you know you probably will find bounty hunters galore after you.

Well, the bounty had just escaped the hyperspace gates, which put him directly in front of the bounty hunter on his tail. Without a moment's hesitation, the bounty hunter's ship came to life. Every panel lit up, the wings starting to unfold.

Before the bounty had any idea what was happening, the junked ship changed into an oncoming pursuer. He decided to activate the booster system to outrun the oncoming ship. That would be of no help to him though. The ship owned by the Bounty Hunter could outrun an ISSP cruiser with no problem. It was a Swordfish after all. Closer and closer the hunter came, waiting to collect his prize. With each movement closer, a buzzing noise seemed to come out of nowhere. He looked at his dash and didn't see any warning messages, so he continued on. But as he continued forward, it got louder and louder until….

* * *

BAM! 

Jason Thoreon's alarm clock was the sound. And of course it was right before he caught up with the bounty, too. It was the same way every night. His dream would always be about trying to go and get a bounty as a bounty hunter. That was his dream when he was awake too. He wanted to be a bounty hunter. He wanted the thrill of chasing down enemies that, though he didn't know, were his deadliest. It looked like the best job in the system. After wiping the sleepy stuff out of his eyes, he looked at the clock.

"CRAP!" He yelled just before he hit the floor in a mad dash, trying to get ready for work. He only had ten minutes before he had to be down at the theater, Alpha City 7. Jason couldn't miss this day ether. Nothing special was happening really that day at Alpha City 7, it was just that he couldn't be late again. He had been late to work three times that month. The manager told him that if he was late one more time, he was fired.

"I can't loose this job! I've still got to save a bit more for the ship!" Jason thought, a sense of urgency funning through his head. The ship he's thinking about is a ship that he found while rummaging through the junkyard a while back. Ok, it was huge ship, so maybe not while rummaging. But it was a star cruiser, which would help hold the bounties.

"The ship's waiting on me! He's only gonna' hold it for a couple more days and then it's on the market again!" He thought once more to himself while watching the toaster with a close eye, the Pop-Tart not popping out of the slot fast enough. You see he had made a deal with the owner and he gave him a price of 50,000 Woolongs. That may seem like a hefty price, but it was nothing compared to what bounty hunters normally got for a paycheck.

"See ya, Lee! I've got to move! I'll feed ya when I get home from work!" Lee was the cat that he had gotten ever since he had moved out of his family's place. It made the place a bit more bearable.

Rushing down the stairs of the Apartment building he was living in, he almost ran three people over just trying to get out the door. Then next problem was that behind that door was a staircase. One that went down for three stories.

"Well, how are ya gonna get this done, Jason?" He said, challenging himself to get down the staircase as fast as he could. He started to run down the staircase and was doing fine for a couple seconds. But then people started showing up. In a desperate attempt to move faster without hurting anyone, he hoped onto the railing and slid the rest of the way down.

Once he got close to the bottom, he pushed off the railing and landed about ten feet away. The speed that he was moving down the railing had propelled him very far, very fast. He was completely out of breath, but still he knew that he had to go on.

Busting through the front doors of his apartment building, he ended up running into his girlfriend, Macy Coregouh, literally. After picking himself off the ground, he noticed it was Macy, which made him feel like a complete heel.

"Sorry, Mace, but I'm gonna be late for work again if I don't keep moving!" He said without taking a moment's break. With that, he started to speed down the sidewalk, hoping that he could still make it.

Without looking, Macy said, "Ya know, I could just… take… you … to…" Before she even got the word work out, he was out of sight. "Dang… he could **at least** wait long enough for me to finish what I was gonna say! Oh well, his loss."

Tearing down the street, Macy not even in his mind, he could see the theater just in front of him. He then kicked it into **high gear**, completely passing even some of the cars on the street. I was just exaggerating about that, but he was moving really fast. When his feet finally landed on the pavement of the theater's parking lot, he came to a sudden stop. Something had caught his eye as he had been running. Macy had beet him there by ten minutes.

"You need to remember, lover boy, I do have a car, unlike you." She said, a bit of a smile coming across her face.

"I hate it when you do this crap to me!" Jason replied, kind of ticked off.

"What crap," Macy replied, now starting to get just as mad as Jason. "You're the one who blew me off before you remembered that I could take you in because **we work in the same place**!"

"Oh… yeah… he he he he he." Jason completely forgot that fact.

"Well, at least you made it on time. You won't get fired today. That's nice to know." Replied, seeming truthfully cheery about that fact.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me that the boss'll do anything to get me out of the theater and on the street." Jason said, being reminded of past close calls. "I swear that man hates me!"

"I have to say, I agree with you completely." Macy said, surprisingly. Jason thought she was still mad at him. "It's like he's got something against you, know what I mean?"

Jason then stopped in his tracks. Something came back to him. A scream pierced through his ears as the sight of a man, shot through the heart, clawed on the floor towards him, then, all became normal again.

"Another memory of times past…" Jason thought to himself. There was one thing that the people of this area of Mars didn't know, or at least, he didn't think they knew. From the time he was 17 till two years before, he had been on his own, living a life of a man with nothing to live for. Basically, a man of the Syndicate. With nowhere he thought he could go, he was turned to the Red Dragon Syndicate by a man dressed in black. The man, with hair as white as the snow yet not very old, had become the leader of the syndicate after the original leader, Mao Yenrai, had been murdered by someone inside the syndicate. The man in black was the new leader, only known by the name Vicious. He had promised Jason a place to stay, food to eat, and money, if he would work for the syndicate. Two years after Vicious recruited him, Vicious was killed by a man who seemed to be his mortal enemy. A bounty hunter named Spike Spiegel.

After his death, there was no safety for him inside the syndicate. He somehow got out of the syndicate before anyone had realized anything about his leaving. That was a good thing too. He didn't want anything from the syndicate to follow him out. That was one year before. He had moved to Alpha City, about as far as you could go on Mars with out having to worry about the red dragon syndicate. Though it looked as if none of the members followed him, the haunting memories of what he did while in the syndicate were buried in his mind, letting loose a fragment of that past every time something from that time came his way. Like the recognizing of a person, place, or thing. It would probably haunt him till the end of his days.

"Jason? Are you alright?" Macy just reached out of him and pulled him from his past. "You just stopped on your tracks and turned all pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just felt a little weird that's all." Jason said, lying through his teeth, to a certain degree.

"Well, at least you aren't sick. You have to work concessions today. We can't have you making the patrons sue!" It was his boss, Mr. Gleason. Gleason, though he sounded like an older adult, was actually right around Jason's age, around twenty-two.

"Mr. Gleason… um… hi!" Said Jason, stumbling for the right words to say to keep his job. He already knew he was on thin ice with him, and he didn't want to add the proverbial campfire on that ice, melting it down more. "I'm not really sick, something just started to bug me. My mind playing tricks, you know the deal."

In his usual gruff voice, Mr. Gleason replied. "No, I don't. So just stop playing in your fairy tail world and **GET TO WORK**!"

Walking away, towards the concession stand that was the be his home for the next six hours, he leaned over to Macy and said, "Man, what's up his butt? Yeah, he's normally mean and all, but that was the worst I've seen him."

"Well, what would you expect? It is the anniversary of his Father's murder." Macy replied, trying to get a bit of understanding out of her boyfriend. "I would expect the exact same from…"

Jason never heard the rest of the statement. He had been teleported, in his mind, back to his last day in the Red Dragon Syndicate. The bloodiest day as well.

This day will live on in his memory, not just for the fact of his escape, but for the things he did to make that happen. The day had been one of the bloodier events he had ever seen in his life. It was also the last time that the syndicate would truly have it's last fearsome fight. The thing is, it took place in Tharsus. It didn't come with out it's regrets though. He had to kill a store owner to create enough evidence for the rest of the syndicate guards that were there was an attack. When they started to fire, Jason ran like the wind.

Earlier that day, he had bought a rail ticket to get him out of the red dragon infested town. When the train pulled out of the atmosphere bubble that covered the city, he knew he was finally free of the syndicate. The memories came with him though, so, unconsciously, the memories of those times were suppressed. That is all but a few things.

"Jason, how's it hangin' man!" The voice broke Jason out of his stupor. Mostly because of the fact he could recognize of the voice. A voice from a time he didn't remember. It was of his old friend, Blake McBern.

"It's going down great man." Jason replied, not noticing the pang of despair in his voice.

"Jason don't lie to me! I can tell when you're lying to me! Tell me what's going on with you as of late, man." Blake said, obviously trying to help.

"You can tell when I'm lying? HA! That's an even bigger one than when you said you had talked to Radical Edward!" Jason still didn't believe that Blake had talked to him, or her, or whatever Rad Ed was.

"I told you that really did happen! I'll prove it to you one of…. Wait! You're putting me off subject again! Now I really know somethin's up. You don't have to talk about it now, but still, you know I'm here for anything."

"Same with me!" Agreed Macy.

"Well, at least I know that much." Jason thought to himself. "Well, you two have convinced me. I tell you about it tonight at dinner, when I make my big announcement."

**See Ya Later, Space Cowboy**


	2. Session 1: Maiden Voyage

Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop, no matter how much I want to see the prequel to the series. Well, the first true story session has finally com to fruition. And the thing is, it only took me two days to do! Man, I told ya that I had some great ideas ready to come out. Well, like most fanfics here, please R&R, but no flames please. And on top of that, please ignore the fact that my pen name is different in this intro compared to the last one. Now… Three, Two, One, Let's Jam!

Enjoy!

Soupcan58

Session 1: Maiden Voyage 

"Here's your paycheck for this week, Jason." Replied Mr Gleason, grudgingly. "Though you don't deserve it."

"What the hell does that mean! I worked hard today!" Jason screamed in response.

"Yeah, today, but what about when you fell asleep with your head in the popcorn maker last week, and then two days ago, you didn't even clean out the correct theaters. Hell, you didn't even clean them at all!"

"Whatever…" Jason sighed in passing. "Hey Mace, Blake, we still good for tonight?"

"Should be, as far as I know. I didn't make any other plans." Macy said, starting to relax since she was done with her shift.

"Same here. This is gonna rock!" Blake said, pumping his fist.

"Why do you say that?"

"Dude, its Thursday, man. Normally we head down to the arcade for a bit."

"Dang it… I completely forgot. Well, that's gonna have to be held off tonight. What I'm gonna do tonight is really important, so we are gonna do this instead. Meet at my place at 7."

"Cool." Macy said, "Just make sure that you actually **call us** if you change the plans at all this time. We don't want another Halloween incident from you!"

"Yeah man, that just turned ugly after two days of looking for ya. You made a heavy enemy of some of the ISP when you did that too!"

"Please," Jason said with a disgusted look on his face, "please don't bring that up again!"

"Sorry, dude, but I'm gonna bug you about that for the rest of your life." Blake snickered.

Tired of all the insults, Jason moves on. "Well, I need to go get ready for tonight. Se you guys later!" With that, Jason walked out the door, excited that he could finally fulfil his dream.

Walking down the street, he took a different route home. He needed to make one important stop before he got home. He needed to pick up his ship. Well, what was gonna be his ship.

A man sits in his in his chair, in what is a small, ratty office in what looks like a junk yard. Balding, less hair than he had just a few years back, he was almost bald. Still, with the hair he still had, you could see the change from a jet-black color to more of a gray, showing his age.

"That kid better get here soon, or I'm just gonna lock up for the night and move on. Kid can cry as much as he wants." He exclaims, leaning back against the wall in his chair.

From the open door, a silhouette of a man appeared and replied, "Kid? I thought you stopped calling me that years ago, Jet."

"Maybe in you're little world, Jason, but to me, you're still the kid that came into town yesterday, looking lost as a puppy." Both laughed at the exchange. They'd known each other for years now. In fact, Jet was the first person Jason met in Alpha City. Still, since the incident with the syndicate came so close before that Jet still had no idea that Jason was a part of the syndicate. At least as far as Jason knew.

"So, I'm guessing you've come for my old ship huh?" Jet said, starting the conversation again.

"Your old ship?" Jason asked, surprised at the statement. "I thought I was getting the star cruiser that came in last year!"

"Trust me you didn't want it!" Jet said, trying to convince Jason of the fact.

Jason's head dropped a bit to level with Jet's head, and then said, obviously annoyed, "You sold the ship to someone else, didn't you?"

"You know me too well kid. Someone came in with a much higher price for it. Obviously, that was the best option for me. Besides, I told you that if somebody came in with a higher bid before you, that they would get the ship."

"I know," Jason scowled, "I'm still ticked though."

"That's why I'm offering you my old ship at the same price. She may be a fishing barge, but still runs extremely well in space. I should know, I've taken my share of trips through the Gates with it chasing bounties. Which I know is exactly what you're after," Jet said, trying to convince him.

"Wouldn't you still need that for travel?" Jason asked, confused.

"Hey, I still have the Hammerhead. That'll be fine for me."

"Still, are you sure there aren't any more ships that I could use?"

"Nope. She's the last one here. But still, I want you to buy her. She deserves more than just sitting in a junk yard for the rest of her life. Ok, how about this… I'll add on the ship that one of my crewmates used to use, before…" A dark look came over Jet's face, "Well, let's not go into that."

"DEAL!" Jason screamed at the top of his lungs. "That's even better than just a star cruiser!" He thought silently. The whole time, Jet just sat there, smiling smugly.

"The Bebop will be good to you if you're good to her. You'll be good to her, I can tell." Jet said, a gleam in his eye. Reaching into a lower drawer on the back of his desk, Jet pulled out a key, a key for a spacecraft. "This is for the Bebop, and this," digging a little deeper into the drawer, "this is the key to the Swordfish. Take good care of them, like I'd expect you to. Now, for the money. Could I get the 50,000 woolongs?"

"Sure." Jason handed Jet a card. The card was access to the account he had in his bank where he saved up his money for the ship. Jet ran it through the transfer machine and handed the card back to Jason.

"You're really dead set on becoming a bounty hunter, aren't you?"

"I am. It's been my dream for a long time. And now it can finally happen." Jason said with a look of determination.

"Well, I've got some information for you, kid. Don't think it's just gonna be a walk in the park. It's not by a long shot. It's probably going to be one of the hardest things you do in your life. There will be times with no food, nothing to do, no one to see, nowhere to go. You sure you can handle it?"

"You know it."

"Well then, I'm sure I made the right decision here. They're yours." Jet hands the keys over to Jason, and there is just a moment of silence.

"Thanks, Jet. This means more to me than you know." I'll catch ya sometime."

"See you later Space Cowboy," Jet replied, not knowing what to say. When Jason was safely away from the door, you could hear Jet say to himself, "Well, Spike-o, I think I finally found someone good enough to do your Swordfish proud. He's just like ya. But with that, that's what I'm afraid of…"

At that moment, Jason turned the corner of the office, and saw the same fishing barge he had seen for the last two years as he walked through the yard to the ship he was hoping for.

" Well… no better time than the…." Jason paused and looked at his watch. "SHOOT! It's almost 7:30! I'm late to my own plans… again! I'll just have to take her up later!"

With that, Jason ran out of the junkyard, two keys in tow and two ships waiting to be used.

**See You Later Space Cowboy…**


	3. Session 2: Rush

Once again, I do not own Cowboy Bebop nor Jet, but I do own Jason, Macy, Blake, and Lee!

Well, this isn't exactly what I thought I'd be doing with this series. I thought it would get killed off by the end of Session 0. Well, I'm actually glad that didn't happen. I would've had too much left to go through with these characters, and besides, I think that there are too few cameos so far. Obviously, I'm gonna have more here in the coming sessions, but I'm not gonna tell ya who all exactly will be showing up later on. Like always, please R&R all the chapters. I hope that my writing is getting better as I go, but if you have any tips for me, please tell me so I can get better. Oh, and to Tsuneo Ishii, this is the same swordfish. You'll see what's up with this ship and why Jet parted with it in the future, so keep an eye on the story

Thanks,

Soupcan58

Session 2: Rush

Jason dashed down the street making sure he got home early so Macy wouldn't end up yelling at him for not being there when she and Blake did. Looking down at his watch, Jason grins,

"I'm actually gonna' be early this time! Now Mace won't read me the riot act again. Ha ha ha! Screwed that up for her!" But as he turned the corner to his house, he saw both Macy and an apparently dragged Blake standing at the door of his apartment complex. He ducked back around the corner when he saw them. "What the hell are those two doing here already! They are gonna expect me to be up there. And I'm not!" Any person who walked by Jason at the moment could see a great greif in his face. All because of Macy. When he saw the two enter his apartment complex, he made a mad dash for the fire escape.

"There's no way I'm getting the riot act from Mace again! She almost killed me trying to tell me that last time, this time she actually could for all I know," Jason thought as she climbed up the first ladder on the escape. He didn't have as much trouble getting up the rest of the way. They were just steps. As he got up to his third story apartment, he tried opening the window, but found it jammed.

"No, NO! NOT NOW!" Jason yelled, pulling on the window.

From within the apartment, Jason could hear Macy knocking on the door, saying, "Jason, ready to let us in or not!"

"COMING!" Jason yelled, hoping that his voice could carry through the window.

"Nyow?"

Jason looked around, "What the… LEE! Get the little lock button there on the windowsill. Land on the button!"

Lee looked at his owner for a second, and with another "nyow" jumped up on the sill and laid down, just missing the button.

"NO NO NO! LEE!" Jason banged on the window, which scared Lee, and Lee rolled over, onto the button, and the window unlocks.

"YES," Jason yells, lifting up the window, and climbing through, not giving any leave for the cat laying there. Lee falls off the sill, lands on his feet, then flies to the couch and sits on the back.

BAM BAM BAM! "Jason," Blake yells, "You OK in there man?"

"Everything's fine," Jason yells, running to the door. When he reaches the door, after what seems like an eternity, he opens it and greets the pair. "Sorry about that guys. I had to rush to be ready."

"It's fine man," Blake said, walking in and slipping off his shoes.

"You could've been a little faster getting to the door, though," Macy said, doing the same as Blake.

"Give me a break, Mace!" Jason said, a look of slight disgust on his face.

"Ok, but only this once, because you're feeding us tonight." Macy turned around, a huge smile on her face. That brought a smile to Jason's face.

"Ah…," Jason sighed, "That smile's why I fell in love with you! I had almost completely forgot with all the nagging lately."

"WHAT!" Macy turned from angel to demon instantly.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding you, Macy." Anyone could tell Jason had regretted saying that to her, for more than the reason that it hurt her feelings.

"Whatever Jason," Macy said disgusted, "Whatever..."

With that they all went over to the table in the far corner of the room, ready to eat.

"Wait," Blake said, "Where's the food?"

"NO!" Jason thought to himself. "I knew I forgot something!" "Well, uhm… I ordered Pizza it'll be here in a minute. If you'll excuse me, I need to go use the restroom." With that, Jason left his guests and ran into the restroom off his bedroom, cell phone in tow.

After he closes the door, he flips open his cell and speed dials the pizza place a couple buildings down. "Hello, I'd like to order a large Mega-pizza for delivery."

"Alright, what's the address?"

"216 Corinth Street, the third floor, Apartment 324."

"Alright man, it will be there in 20 minutes."

"Thanks! You just saved my life buddy!" Jason exclaimed as he flipped his cell closed.

Meanwhile, on the other end at the pizza place, the guy who answered the phone said, "O… K… That was weird…"

Jason walked out of his room, ready to face both of his friends, about to tell them the truth about what was going to happen to him in the next twenty four hours. You feel any better now, dude? You were yellin' pretty loudly in there."

"Yeah, I'm fine now." Jason gathered up his courage, took a deep breath, and plunged in. Into the proverbial kiddy pool, that is. "You guys want something to drink?" Then he thought to himself, "Whoa, that wasn't what I was gonna say!"

"Pass me a Mons Dew man." Blake replied, eyes glued to Jason's TV.

"I'll just have a water, thanks." Macy replied, giving a smile to Jason. After a few seconds, she looked to the wall and sighed, "Well, this is actually going great! Everything is going right this time. It's almost like our first date. It went so perfectly, you and me at…"

"Come on! Take it to the other room! You're gonna make me sick with all this cuteness talk and all that!" Blake interrupted her reminince.

"Blake, you and I both know that the only reason why you're like that is because you never could get a date!" Jason chuckled at his closest friend. Just then, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Thinking it was just Lee passing by one of the windows, he put the thought into the back of his mind.

"So, you guys ever think that we'll ever get out of this dead end job of ours at the theater?" Jason brought up, out of the blue, while giving Blake and Macy their drinks.

"Well, I know that at least Blake and I will." Macy said. "We just finished collage and we're just working this until we can get some good jobs."

"You may be," Blake replied, "but I'm in it for the free popcorn at the end of the shift!" Blake licked his lips at the thought.

Macy sighed, then looked back at Jason. "But I don't honestly know with you. You've not gone to collage, and most of all, you're barely keeping the job you're in now. Wait a second… Yeah, you won't be working this job much longer. The boss is gonna fire you here soon anyways!"

Jason, obviously annoyed, turned his back to her when the doorbell went off. Well, really more of a door-buzz. Anyway, Jason went up to the door, gets and pays for his pizza and the delivery man leaves. But on the floor is something he didn't see before. A small, folded slip of paper was laying there on the ground, right where he was standing. He didn't notice the delivery man drop anything, but still, it seemed right to pick it up. At least he could throw it away. Make the hallway look maybe a little better.

"Pizza's here guys! Come and get it!" Jason yelled. Blake rushed the table Jason put the box on and started to tear off a couple slices.

"Hey, save some for us, Blake. We're hungry too you know." Macy called after him, slowly coming up on the table. While getting her food, Macy looked over at Jason, and just saw a downcast look on his face. "What's wrong, Jason?" She asked. "Is it anything I can help with?" Obviously, she seemed worried.

"No, it's fine," Jason said, looking back up at her face. "Everything's fine."

"I wish…" Jason thought to himself. "Something's not right around here. I can't tell what it is. It's like it is just on the verge of perception, here yet not. I know there's something going on, and I'm gonna find out. But while I'm at it, I may as well not worry these two. It may as well be nothing. Nothing at all…" Right then, the slip of paper came to mind. "Wait a minute!" The paper!" Then came the thought of the slight movement he caught out of the corner of his eye. He looked around and saw Lee asleep on his favorite spot on Jason's bed. He's been there since Jason snuck in to the apartment. Jason's eyes widened as he finally put all the pieces together. He then caught another movement outside the window, a shadow, slightly deformed by the placement of the sun at the time. Then it all made sense.

"GUYS!" Jason yelled. "GET DOWN, NOW!" With that, Jason leapt to Blake and Macy, and basically tackled them to the ground. Right as they hit, gunshots rang out through the apartment. Glass shattered everywhere. Things from the couch to the pillows to the Televison were becoming covered with bullet holes.

"RWOAAAR!" Lee yowled in the next room and came running to Jason

"No, No, NO! This wasn't supposed to happen, THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" Jason yelled.

"Jason, what the HELL is going on!" Macy yelled into his ear.

"I'm sorry Mace, but we don't have the time to go through that right now. We've gotta get out of here!" Jason yelled right back. "Blake," he yelled, looking to his other side," You Ok?" Yeah, I'm fine man, just scared out of my MIND! That's all!"

"Good!" Jason said, blocking out the sarcasm. "Ok guys, we need to make a break for the door."

"ARE YOU NUTS, MAN! That's right in the line of fire!" Blake yelled.

"Used the table as a makeshift shield. I need to go get something." Jason said, a face as unchanging as stone.

Macy saw his steely look, and knew he'd be alright, so she got Blake to help her with the table and to start towards the door. When they began to move, Jason leaped out to the opposite side of the table and behind the couch. The gunfire kept ringing out, but followed Jason and seemed to leave Macy and Blake. "Hopefully," Jason thought, "This will give them a chance to get out." To distract the gunmen, he threw a pillow out the opposite side of the couch, hoping that they would take the bait. They took it hook, line and sinker. When the fire moved it's focus, he took his shot at getting to his room to get it. His Jericho.

They had given him the Israeli Jericho 941 when he had just started working for them. After a short while, it was like it became a part of him. It's the only thing he kept with him from his days as a Red Dragon. When he got through the doorway, he saw the closet, where he kept it. Luckly, it seemed like they weren't targeting his room as much. That gave him a slight cover and just a little extra time.

With that, he ran to his closet and opened the door. There it was, right in the box he left it in, along with the ammo. He only kept the ammo just in case something like this situation ever happened. And boy, was he glad to have it now! Within a few seconds, he had the pre-loaded magazine already loaded in to the gun, ready for a fight. He took the other two empty magazines and the box of bullets he had with him out of the closet put them in the pocket of a jacket on a hanger. He pulled the jacket off the hanger, put it on real quick, and moved over to the door frame to his room. Jason hunkered against the wall, and breathed in deep. When he breathed out, he took a peek around the corner to make sure everything was clear. From what he could see, the door was open, so that was a good sign that those two got out. He could still see the shadows there on the floor. They were still waiting on him. They knew he was still alive. But there was still the question bugging Jason. Why exactly were they trying to kill him?

Jason knew that he didn't have time for that right then, so he jumped around the corner and started to run. Gunshots rang out once more, but this time, the mystery assailants weren't the only ones firing. Jason shot at the men as he ran by the windows. Obviously, since he couldn't see their exact positions, his shots barely hit his shooters. He did get a few lucky shots off though. When he got to the door, he leaped over the table and made his way into the hall. From here, it seemed a bit easier. No windows, so the shooters didn't know where he was at exactly. He ran down the hallway, made it to the staircase, and slid down the railing one more time. This time it seemed a bit easier for some reason this time. When he finally reached the bottom of the building, he saw Blake and Macy on the other side of the street, waiting for him. He ran out the door, and tried to cross the street. I say tried because a car that was moving past almost hit him.

"Hey buddy!" The driver yelled back at him, "Watch where you're going, retard!"

"Yeah, same to you!" Jason yelled back, not any more time for a remark. He made it across the street right after the insult and pulled the two into the alley right by the building. "Ok, We need to get down to the junk yard as fast as we possibly can!"

"Why the yard?" Blake asked.

"I have a ship there to get us out of here." Jason said, still catching his breath.

"A SHIP!" Macy yelled. "You never told us you had a ship!"

"Well," Jason began, "I'll tell ya about it on the way there." With that the crew took off, Lee unknowingly following them close behind. When they had passed one or two blocks, Jason started explaining. "I have a ship, just bought it today called The Bebop waiting for me at the yard. The old man sold it to me along with another craft called the Swordfish II. Supposed to be some really special craft. We just need to get there so that we can get out of here!"

"Why do we need to leave?" Macy asked Jason. "Why can't we just hide out somewhere in the city and report this to the police?"

"If these guys are from where I think they are, the police couldn't do anything about it." Jason grimaced.

Right then, they took the turn into the junkyard, Jet still in his office, saw them run in.

"What are you doing, Kid? You act like you saw a ghost or something!" Jet exclaimed. Jason just looked at him.

"We've gotta' take off in the Bebop now!" Jason yelled.

"Now? I haven't even taught you how to take her off the ground yet!"

"Well, you're gonna need to do it quick. We're on the run from some crazy gunmen of some kind!"

"Wha…!" Jet looked confused, but then could tell Jason wasn't lying by the look in his eyes.

"If that's the matter take this!" Jet threw a small box over to Jason.

"What is it?" Blake asked as he ran.

"It's a comm unit I used to use a while back. You'll need it so I can give you instructions to take off."

"WHAT!" Jason yelled.  
"You got it, Kid. I'm gonna have to help ya like that. It's the only way. Now get on that ship!"

Jason looked back, "Jet, I'm really gonna need your help with this!"

"Don't worry about it. I know you're a good pilot, I will only have to help you a bit. Now, get out of here!"

The group found the hatch to the ship and all entered. It took some work, and navigation skills, but they found their way to the control room.

Jet's face came up on the Comm and they all heard him say, "Ready?"

Jason jumped into the drivers seat near the front of the room. "Give it to me." With that, Jason pushed the ship key into place and the room began to hum and come to life.

"Alright, Jason. What I need you to do is charge the main thrusters, don't fire them yet."

Jason hits a button on the screen and replies, "Done!"

"Now, Get the artificial gravity ring moving then…"

Jason cut him off. "Activate the launch boosters, right?"

"See Kid, I knew you could do it on your own pretty quickly."

"Mono system online, we're ready to launch!"

"Good luck, Kid?" And with that, the screen went black. "See ya later, Space Cowboy."

With a giant roar, the Bebop lifted off the ground and started to pick up speed as it lifted.

"Does the front look clear guys?" Jason asked the two looking through the front window.

"Looks it to me, but I'm no pilot. I just know computers." Blake said.

With that Jason typed in come codes into the keyboard while simultaneously pressing a combination of things on the touch screen. "Ok then, let's lift off!" And with a final press on the touch screen, the ship moved higher in the sky till there was no longer a reddish-blue sunset sky, but just the red skies of Mars outside of it's terraformed areas.

Jason leaned back, exhausted, and took in a deep breath. He thought he could finally relax a bit.

"Jason, I'll ask what I did before. WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!" Macy yelled at him from the front.

"So much for a breather!" Jason thought to himself as he left the seat.

**See you later Space Cowboy…**

7


	4. Session 3: TANK!

Session 3, here at last! It's been a while, Bebopers, but I'm back and working on the series. My time is still gonna be quite a bit split though on the series. I've got school and now a webcomic I'm working on as well. So if you wanna see what else is taking up my time, I'd recommend you go there. It's worth a good laugh too, so that's just another reason. Anyways, Session 3 is here and this time, I won't have to make any updated versions(hopefully) on spelling and other things like that. Like always, please R&R for my sake that I can become better!

Thanks,

Soupcan58

Session 3: TANK!

"Well, you see, it's like this. Those people that were attacking us… They were Red Dragons…" Jason said, looking at Macy sternly, but then looking away, as if embarrassed.  
"Red Dragons?" Blake piped in. "I thought they only stayed in Tharsus City these days."

"I thought they were too. I was banking on it. And it looks like I overdrew…" Jason replied back.

"Wait, what do you mean by that. Why exactly were they after you?" Macy asked, still trying to get an answer out of Jason

Jason sighed, lifted his head, and looked Macy square in the eyes. "There's some thing I need to tell you both. I never told you much about my past, and there's a reason for that. The reason I didn't tell you is so you wouldn't be involved in something like what happened to us today. Well, that's down the tubes, so I might as well tell you both."

"TELL US WHAT!" Blake and Macy yelled.

"I… I was once a member of the Red Dragons…"

Blake and Macy were reeling from the truth told to them. "You…" Macy replied, "You're kidding, right? Yeah, you're just kidding us."

"Why would I kid you about something like this at a time like this?" Jason said with a solemn look on his face. "I'm not kidding. I hoped that you would never find out."

"Well, that still doesn't tell us why exactly those guys were after you back there." Macy said, still digesting all that Jason had just told her about his past.

"To leave, I had to commit a horrible act, that made it seem to the ones running the syndicate at the time that Jason Thoreon was truly dead. Then I made the escape to Alpha City to thanks to a close friend of mine on the inside. He convinced the leaders that he had killed me so that he wouldn't have to show them a body to prove my death. But apparently, somehow, someone found out. And that someone doesn't like what I did."

To Blake's right side, a blip showed up on the radar. If it wasn't for the sound it made, it would've gone unnoticed in during this little drama that was taking place. Blake was the only one to notice, so he thought it would be a good idea to tell the others.

"Um, guys, we aren't alone out here!"

"Of course we aren't." Jason said annoyed. "It's normal to be around other ships out here between cities."  
"Well, I don't think they'd be pulling this close, this fast if it was just another traveler." Blake said, quite a bit more worried than before.  
"What are you talking about?" Jason asked as he walked up to the display screen with the radar.

Macy walked up beside Blake and took a look at the screen. "Well, I may not be a pilot or a computer expert, but that really does look like a bad thing!"

"Ok…" Jason said amazed, "It looks like you guys are actually able to read some of this stuff. Well, those freaks coming after us isn't gonna help things." He turned to Blake, "Hey, Blake, you think you can go up to the pod up there and see if the weapon system is online for this piece of junk?"

"Yeah, I can try at least. I can't guarantee anything, though." Blake said starting his way to the control pod. He worked his way through a couple menus on the screen, then found the right menu. "Bad news Jason, it's all down. All we've got going right now is the navigation and the grav ring. That's it. I may be able to get a communication program running, but it would take me a few minutes. I'd have to build it from scratch."

"We don't need that right now." Jason said. "What I need you to do is to pilot the Bebop for me!"

Blake's jaw dropped. "WHAT!"

"You and I have played flight sims that are almost the same set up as this. You should be able to pilot the ship. I really need you to do this for me."

"Ok, but why don't you pilot the ship? You know it slightly better than me." Blake asked.

"Well, somebody needs to be able to get rid of those hitmen! I'm piloting my other ship!" Jason said, forgetting that he never told them about the Swordfish II.

"OTHER SHIP!" Macy and Blake both yelled. Macy continued, "How many ships do you actually have, anyways?"

"Just the two," Jason replied, "But we can talk about that later. Right now I need to get out of here. Macy I need you to do something too. When I give the signal through the com unit, I need you to push this button on screen then when I give the next one, flip this switch up," he instructed her as he showed her the job. "You're the only way I'm gonna be able to get out of the hanger."

"Ok, I'll do my best." Macy replied, nodding her head.

"Ready guys?" Jason asked.

Blake jumped into the pilot's pod. "Ready!"

"Go for it," Exclaimed Macy.

"Merow!" Lee meowed.

"LET'S DO THIS!" With that, Jason moved through to the back of the control room, rolled open the door and jumped into the spinning ring. From there he didn't know where to go.

"Crap!" Jason thought to himself, "The old man never told me where the hanger was from the control room. I was lucky I even found that." He decided that he would just look through the doors that passed him and hope that he'd find it quick.

Blake furiously tapped commands on the screen using one hand while typing out others on the keyboard with the other. Anyone who watched him knew that he had a background in computers, and with the speed he was doing things, almost to a net diver level. Maybe even a little further Within a couple minutes, he would know how to completely control the Bebop. That was just his talent. He could do anything he wanted to with computers.

"Blake!" He could hear Jason yell through the door to the Grav Ring. "Can you tell me which door to go through to get to the hanger? I'm freakin' lost man." With that, Blake started his furious typing again and found his way to the "floor plans", if you would call them that. He searched the word hanger and looked for it's location relative to the hanger.

"It's three doors to the right of this one!" Blake yelled to his comrade.

"WHAT!" Jason yelled, "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Jason took the left from the entrance. He went almost all the way around the ring and found that it was all for naught. So Jason pushed himself off the top wall(really there's no ceiling in this thing. Just walls that all seemed to move in different directions). He walked down the corridor and finally found his target. He twisted the circular latch, then opened the door. As it rolled open, he peeked in and saw the coolest thing he had ever seen. The Swordfish II was sitting there in all her glory. Or former glory as it may be. She looked a bit run down, but still good for her age and how long she had been sitting around in that dusty hanger for years. Well, he had to hope that her boosters would still work, as well as the mono system. It was an old set up, and he didn't know how long ago it was that Jet did the last repairs on the ship, or how old the Mono system was. Then he snapped back to reality. Jason scolded himself saying, "I don't have time for this!"

With that, he jumped up into the cockpit and closed the top. As the top closed, he could see the lights starting to come on overhead, and then came the lights of the system coming online. The screen flickered, then started to glow royal blue. Then it showed a few text boxes coming up showing the system running a self check. The screen finished up, showing that communication lines and the booster starboard side of the main pod were offline. "Well, I guess I won't be using the escape pod option anytime soon," Jason said in a sarcastic tone as well as what some call a smirk. He loved the heat of battle. There's no way that he'd want to leave. He ether would win or go down fighting. That's the only way he'd want to go. With that thought, the panel finally closed and he felt the air pressure equate. It was time to go.

"Macy," Jason asked to the comlink that he taped to the celing.

"I'm here." She said in a bit of a shaky voice.

"All right, go ahead and press the button now." He instructed.

BEEP

And with that sound the hanger doors opened and the Swordfish moved along the track to the outside deck, where he could take off. "One thing down, three to go." Jason thought to himself as he flipped a switch. The switch controlled the wings, which were folded up at the moment for storage. The wings unfurled, and the ship came into full view. With those out, you could finally tell what kind of ship it was. It was an old racing ship that had been outfitted with two guns as well as a chain laser of some kind. It really was an impressive ship, made for fighting at high speeds. Perfect. That's just what he wanted…

"All right Mace… Flip that switch up so that I can get off the deck." Jason didn't hear anything come over the com channel, nothing but background sound. He knew Macy better than anyone did. At one point, she even said that he knew her better than she had known herself. He knew that she was worried out of her mind for him. And Macy knew that he could tell, especially after he said, "And don't worry… I'll be back."

Her face lit up and she flipped the switch. With the clamps off the wheels, Jason took off at break neck speed off the deck and away from the Bebop, the whole time, Macy, holding Lee close, looked out the window as he took off towards the side of the ship.

When he got to the side, he saw just a couple of the ships laying gunning runs up and down the side of the ship. And it looked like they weren't getting anywhere near puncturing the hull.

"Man, she's a lot stronger than I thought. I hope she can hold out a bit longer" Jason thought. He then turned to the com unit. "Blake, pull the ship away a bit, straight forward. They're hitting the side. Not really doing much damage it looks like, but I don't know how much longer she'll be able to take an attack like that. On top of that, I'm gonna need some space to see how this new gun works out."

"On it!" Blake said. Almost instantly, the ship started to lurch forward. It wasn't all that fast though. "I can't go any faster, dude. The back boosters are gonna need a lot more time to warm up then we've given 'em. We couldn't even take these things through the gates right now. It'd just be dangerous. So that's what you've got to work with. Sorry!" Blake relayed.

"That's alright man, I'll just have to be really careful." Jason replied. He couldn't take the risk right now though. No chance. He'd have to go in close till they were moved far enough away. He didn't want the laser to create a friendly fire hit. "I'm goin in!" Jason yelled as he smoked into the fighters.

"Surprise boys!" Jason flew in behind the furthest fighter from the ship cleanly took it out with guided precision. The machine guns held their own in a battle for sure. And well, when they heard the explosion, and didn't see any fire erupting from the Bebop, the pilots turned and fired blindly into Jason. "Time to try this thing's turns!" He took Swordfish into a tight barrel roll. The thing is, Jason didn't expect it to even be that tight. Not thinking that, he didn't buckle up beforehand, which sent him against the ceiling, then plopped his seat. "Yeah, I really need to buckle up next time." Strapping himself down, he got back on the controls and took it into another barrel roll. This time he was prepared. He took a hard right after that and took a shot at the two ships left. He hit one in the cockpit, and the glass shattered into a thousand pieces, launching the body outside of the ship into the darkness of space. The last ship took a hit, but it was to the right thruster, so there was no way it could move away. It was a sitting duck.

"Time to try this baby out!" Jason exclaimed as he flipped the switch. As he did, he felt the laser lower into place, and correct itself. Then Jason locked on to the ship, and pulled the trigger. A shining blue beam came out of the gun, and tore completely through the last ship, then came back up to the underside of the ship for a recharge.

Jason pumped his fist into the air and screamed in victory, "WOOOOO HOOOOOO! HOLY CRAP! THAT WAS AMAZING!"

Then he heard Blake's voice crackle over the com, "What the hell was that Jason?"

"My favorite gun! HA HA!"

"Whatever man…" The screen flashed back on, and Blake, Macy and Lee's faces appeared in a window! "Get back in the ship. We need to all be in here for when we can go into the Gate!"

"On my way." With that, Swordfish took a hard right and flew back towards the hulking mass that was the Bebop. They had made it through the storm. Well, at least they thought they had.

5


	5. Session 4: Memory

Session 4: Memory

Jason backed up to the deck, made touchdown, and the clamps hooked on the wheels. Jason just forgot the little detail of folding the wings as he was pulled backwards.

CREAAAKKK!!!! The Bebop rocked from side to side as the three passengers on the bridge felt and heard the ships collide.

"GOOD GREIF! WHAT'D YA DO!?!" Blake apparently wasn't all that happy about the accident.

"No worries man, Just forgot to let the wings fold first," Jason said over the comm as worriless and as matter of factly as possible. "There isn't even a dent and the system moved Swordfish right back out onto the deck." Jason flipped a switch. "Wings folding now. Send us back guys!" With that, Jason once again started sliding back, and then saw himself and the ship pull back through the gate. Once the door lowered closed, the air came flowing back in and the airlock was finally habitable.

As Jason lept out of the cockpit, the rolling door opened and Blake poked his head into the hanger. "Nice landing there, Jason."

"Yeah," Jason replied. "Same goes to you." He was obviously being as sarcastic with Blake as he possibly could be.

"None of that today, man. Just be more careful next time, ok?"

"Alright…. If you say so…" Jason said as he walked past Blake and started exiting.

"Wait… I never did a landing!"

"Welcome back, Jason!" Macy said as he re-entered the bridge.

"Thanks!" Jason replied back. "At least you're a little more welcoming than Blake was…"

At that point, Blake poked his head through the porthole. "Hey, if you'd be more careful with the ship, I wouldn't yell at ya like that."

"Why are ya' acting like you own the ship? I'm the one that paid for it remember!?" Jason yelled. Macy could tell that Jason was starting to get tweaked.

"Cut it out, guys, we really shouldn't be arguing right about now. Really, we should be focusing on what we need to do next." Macy said, trying to coax some sanity into the situation.

"MACY, SHUT UP!!!!" Jason yelled. At that moment, Lee jumped from Macy's arm, latching his teeth into Jason's arm. "YEAAARGHH!!!!!"

"Well, I hope that brought you to your senses." Macy said.

"Mreow.." Apparently, Lee agreed with her.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry for being a complete and total ass there. Same to you, Blake."

"It's alright man. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at ya back there too. I'm just still trying to absorb everything that's going on. It's kinda makin me crazy here." Blake replied.

"Well, you may get a bit more crazy with me…." Jason said, slipping further away from the smile he once had.

"What are you talking about, Jason?" Macy asked, taking a couple steps toward him, questioningly.

"You guys can't go back…"

"WHAT?!?!" Blake and Macy stood there, shocked. Their home, had to be completely abandoned? Was it true? And more than that, why? Not more than a couple of seconds after Macy started to stagger backwards, she fell forward, dropping like a rock.

"Macy!" Jason yelled as he swooped down and caught her before she hit the floor. "Blake, bring up the schematics for the ship. We need to find a place to take Macy. A place that'll be a little more comfortable than this." Jason just wanted to make sure she was alright. He didn't know what was going on.

"I found a lounge type thing, about four floors down." Blake said, still streaming through the transmission that was coming through the main board.

"Well, how do I get there?" Jason asked while he picked up Macy

"Take the fourth door to the right from this one. It should be it."

"Alright. Thanks man. Once we get into orbit over Mars, put us in autopilot and leave the sensors on. We need to know if anyone is coming. See ya there in a couple of minutes.

"Alright, you be careful with her though, man."

"No problem." Jason said, opening the door to the grav ring. "Come on, Lee."

"Mreow." Lee followed Jason through the door. As Lee came through the door, Jason touched the floor of the grav ring and started towards the lounge.

"Lee… what should I do? I'm being followed by the syndicate again. Mace and Blake are stuck with me on this rickety old ship. All because of me. Everything's changed…" Jason said, figuratively to his furry companion. "It's all my fault…" Just as he finished his musing, he reached the hatch to the lounge. "Well, that doesn't really matter right now. Right now, I should only worry about getting Mace taken care of."

With a swift twist of his wrist, the rolling door opened to a dreary metal room with the lights low.

"Crap," Jason thought to himself while looking at the new room, "You've gotta be kidding me…" The most noticeable thing is the musty smell that came into the hall the instant the door rolled open. Then, came the ratty couch that was sitting in the middle of the room, right beside a raised metal… well… block… out of the floor that could be used as a short table. There were two other unpadded metal chairs on the two ends of the table, and it looked like an old computer system. All of it covered with cobwebs and about two or three years worth of dust. To his was a staircase that went down, with another that went up right beside it. It looked like there was a hallway to his right too.

When Jason got down the stairs he cleared the cobwebs and dust off the couch with his free arm, and gently set her down on it. "Man… this place completely sucks…" He walked over to the Mini-fridge, opened the door a bit, and saw nothing but even more dust. "Geese… there's not even any food in here! The old man could have at least done that for me…" With no food to be found, he thought it a good idea to go see what he could find on that old PC sitting on the end of the table. "Let's see how you get this antique on." After fumbling around with it and pressing every button available, he found the right one. He pressed it and recived:

_**DAH DA DA DAAAAA!!!**_

"_**Howdy, Cowpokes! It's time for Roundup!"**_

"_**The show where you learn everything about fugitives!"**_

"_**Shucks-howdy!"**_

"AHH!!" Jason screamed and fell out of his chair at the loud rambling that suddenly came out of the system. "GEEZE! DAMN RERUNS CHANNEL!!"

And with a click of a key, the computer moved to it's OS screen. "Here we go, this is much more like it! Now, let's dig through… hmm…" Jason saw a strange black and red icon sitting on the screen. "I wonder what this is…."

_Click Click_

A new screen came up that said "Deep Space". Within the new window, there was the new program's name, and fields to put in a username and password.

"I wonder…." Jason got up and went to the rolling door, then yelled, "Hey Blake, you have the com systems up yet?"

"Yeah! Just don't be on too long right now, I still working on the program to make sure we aren't being bugged." Blake yelled right back.

"Ok, time to call the old man." Jason minimized the window deep space was on and bumped to the phone operation. "Let's hope this number is still good." He proceeded to punch in the numbers for Jet's old junkyard. In a couple more seconds, a video window came up with Jet sitting there, staring at the screen, then just saying his catchphrase for the yard, "Jet's junk is another man's… Kid! Is that you?!"

"Yeah, it's me old man. I needed to call ya about some stuff here on the… whatdya call it again?"

"The Bebop…" Jet said, aggravated.

"Yeah. The Bebop. Anyways, I've got my friend Blake up on the bridge re-writing some of the programs so that we can use them. But I had to bring Macy down to the lounge to give her a place to sleep. I found an old computer down here with an Icon called Deep Space."

"Oh geeze, I'd completely forgotten about that one. Let me guess, you need a username and password right?"

"Yeah. So what is it exactly?"

"It's an underworld search engine. Information on bounties, groups, anything you would need to know that had to do with the underbelly of Sol is on that search engine. I don't know if it is still up to date, though. Aww… what the hell, let's get you set up on there."

"What?!"

"Yeah, you said yourself to me once before that you wanted to be a bounty hunter didn't you?" Jet asked.

That statement resounded with him and reminded him of the first time he talked to Jet about his dream.

Two Years Earlier

Jason walked into the junkyard in a ratty, brown overcoat. Spatters of blood were all over the slacks, which were the only visible part of the worn suit he was wearing. It looked like he hadn't taken a shower in days.

He hadn't slept either. It was easy to tell just by watching him walk. Each step seemed drawn out, each movement sluggish. He leaned on the fencing slightly, trying to gain a slight sense of stability, though it was failing. He looked around and couldn't see anyone, but called out all the same….

"_Some…one… g-g-get me a-a… ship…_"

"Futile… it's allllll futile…" Jason heard behind him. He whipped his head around, but saw nothing. He still heard a fainting laughter, but ignored it and moved back on into the junkyard.

"_Ge…geh…ghet away from meh…_"

He swung at invisible binds, arms, and anything else that tried to hold him back. He, for once, felt tired… too tired. Then it all went black…

…………….. One Hour Later………………

Jet walked out of his little trailer he called his office and stretched. The mechanical arm he had to replace his original had a small amount of rust on one side, but he didn't mind. It seemed to create a distinguished feeling to him, just like the gray hairs that had begun to replace the deep black hair that were around the bald spot on the top of his head.

He walked down the small amount of steps and moved across the front drive to make his normal rounds through the junkyard. As he hit the final step he saw something amiss. Right near the entrance, next to the pile of tires, there was a boy, or possibly so he thought, a small man in a trench coat lying near the entrance. Jet ran up to him and turned him over. Jason was laying face down in the dirt, completely unconscious. Dust was caked on his face due to tears that for some reason had streamed down his face. There was blood on his trenchcoat, as well as on different places on his face, mostly caked with dirt now.

"What in the world happened to you kid…?" Jet asked to the unconscious Jason "Whatever happened, we need to get you inside." Jet then picked him up by the arm, put it over his shoulders, and walked him inside the trailer.

…………………..Two Days Later…………………

Jason opened his eyes slowly, slightly shocked by the bright sunlight shining through the small skylight over his head.

"Where the hell am I..?" Jason said, reaching for his head. Then he noticed that his hand was bandaged tightly.

"You're in my Office," A voice chimed from his left. "Taking up space on my bed thank you very much."

Jason leaned up, then clutched at his side. It hurt for some reason. Visions of flashes of light from gunshots in the dark came to his mind, and he fell back down to the couch.

"Don't try to get up. You're gonna be down for at least a good couple of days. And takin' up my damn bed while you're at it."

"What're—" Jason started.

Jet interrupted, "Hold up, Kid. You're gonna answer some of my questions right now, cause it seems like you've got a lot to talk about."

"Wha--?? N-n-no I don't have…" At that point, Jet held up the bloody jacket, with a disapproving look on his face.

"Start talking…"

In the hours that followed, Jason explained his story of the bloody jacket, and in turn, why he was involved in the syndicate.

"Well…" Jet began, a smirk on his face, "Seems like I've heard this story before somewhere…"

"What're you.."

"Nevermind… a ghost from the past…" Jet snapped, the smirk fading quickly. "You need to get out of here.."

After a long pause, Jason firmly replied, "No."

"Wha-?"

"I think they won't recognize me. I was a low end member, piece of shit in their eyes… not even worth the bullets they used on me out on the mission…"

They sit in silence for a minute or two, not really knowing what else to say… Then Jet asks, "Are they still here?"

"No," Jason replied. "We were here on a mission. I heard about this one early while eavesdropping and made my plan to get away. It was all set up, make a run for it while in the mission, while everyone was focused on a target."

"So you're stuck here…"

"Yeah," Jason said, a smile starting to curl on his face.

"Which means you have no place to stay, no way to get anywhere else to do that either…"An annoyed tone entered Jet's voice, "Great, another vagabond…"

Jason sat smiling for a second, followed by the corners of his mouth dropping to a frown and the realization finally hitting him that he hadn't planned his post-syndicate life at all, including what to do to stay somewhere.

"You mind if I…"

"You're not takin' up my bed if that's what you mean…" Jet interjected, "You're usin' the couch while you're here. As soon as you're well though, you're getting off your lazy ass and getting a job, you're not livin' here."

"Got ya!" Jason then saluted jokingly, quickly bringing his arm back down due to a sharp pain in his side "Oww…"

"Stay down kid… you've still got a day or two."

Three days later, Jason got out of the trailer, got his job at the theater, met his friend Blake and girlfriend Macy. Two weeks after that, got enough money for a down payment to rent a studio apartment.

His last day at the junk yard was a crazy one. He came back to the trailer to find Jet leaning back in his chair, his feet perched on the desk, with two cases of beer, waiting to be consumed, sitting at the corner. This left a thought in Jason's head though.

"Jet, there's way to much here for the both of us. You know that I can't hold my liquor well yet either."

"Well, you didn't think ol' Jet would be loose enough with his money to throw ya a going away party, do ya?" Blake said, coming up behind him.

"Kid, ya've got no room to talk. Picked up the cheapest kind ya could get didn't ya?"

"All I could afford, old man." Blake said. "WAIT! HAVE YOU ALREADY BEEN DRINKIN' IT!?"

"Maybe…" Jet said, grinning as widely as ever before.

Blake pumped a fist into the air, saying, "You're lucky you're an old man, or I'd-".

"Would that be a challenge I hear?" Jet said, starting to loose his cool a bit.

"Whoa, whoa guys, cut it out, we're not here to have a fight. We're here to drink!" Jason said, coming between the feuding parties. And with that Jason took a can and drank a long swig, hoping the others would join in and forget the argument.

After a beat, they did and both started drinking.

Two hours later, Blake was passed out on the floor, covered with the beer that he was drinking when he passed out.

Jason was laying haphazardly on the couch, Jet hanging in his chair, drunk.

"Bounty hunter…" Jason said in his stupor.

"Wha…?" Jet replied

"I wanna be a bounty hunt.. huck… eeerr…"

"Right, kid."

"No… really…"

"It's not easy kid, not worth it ether."

"Well, at least it'll get me outta this hellhole of a town."

Jet went silent.

Jason began again, "Ya know, I wanted to be ever since I was a kid. Sailin' thehic… stars and makin money out thefuzskinasuzuu…."

At that point, Jason fell asleep, Jet still focused on him.

"You really are serious about this, huh kid…"

"Kid, you still there?" Jet said, pulling him out of his memories once again.

"Oh, uh, yeh, yeah, I'm here, sorry." Jason said, still shaking off the time.

"Just makin' sure. You can't phase out like that, especially when you're on a job. That's what gets bounty hunters killed."

"Right… right… sorry. So, let's do whatever you were wanting to do."

"Ok," Jet said, leaning close to the camera. "Let's get you hooked up."

**See You Space Cowboy…**

10


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